Server Version#: 1.18.7.2457 on Windows 7
Player Version#: 4.26.1
Tuner Make/Model: Xteve 2.1.2
Guide/Lineup name: Custom PHP script supplied
Using XMLTV?: Custom PHP script supplied
Channel number/Name: Channel stream assigned to Plex channel number 1000, actual channel not important. Others MAY also be affected.
In the troubleshooting process there are 2 important tools used in the following report. The Xteve console displaying real-time channel requests and the logging console for the custom PHP script that is acting as the middleman between the EPG and M3U providers and Xteve also having a real-time monitor. This PHP script cleans all bad XML data, removes any superfluous EPG, associates the stream URLs to the EPGs I specify and makes the actual final M3U and EPG that Xteve uses. The xteve generated M3U was inspected and all “channelID”, “tvg-chno” AND “tvg-name” are correct and unique. The Xteve XML output was also inspected and other than a somewhat random order of the XML is proper as well.
When the following observations were made, The existing Plex DVR was removed and reinitialized from scratch. All channels seemed to be recognized and no issues were evident. The channel guide loaded properly and all icons and EPG were displayed properly. When the issue was noticed, the Plex web interface in Firefox was refreshed and the Guide page reloaded in the browser.
The Plex web interface is randomly directing channel 1000 to the wrong channel. Both monitors clearly confirmed that channel 1003 was instead being requested and ultimately being loaded when channel 1000 was selected. After a few minutes and page refresh, it was observed to being redirected to channel 1004 instead.
As a cross-check between different platforms, the Plex app on the Roku AND the Plex app on an Android phone was tested. At first it operated correctly but after a few minutes I realized the correct stream was used but the channel info was that of 1003 when the stream for channel 1000 was being displayed. So they got it half right.
This has been an issue that comes and goes since I first started using the Plex live TV feature. This issue does not seem to be consistent on occurrence or to which channels are affected and has been observed since day 1 when I began using it. The supplying M3U and EPG data systems have undergone MANY changes since while this issue has remained. Currently only 247 channels are being used and the XML being supplied to Plex is less than 70 MB.
In past occurrences, other random channels were found to have the same behavior but was thought to be from caused from the underlying EPG/M3U supply resulting in a complete re-engineering of the PHP script to ensure perfect data being provided to Plex however the problem persists. The EPG and M3U output data from the PHP script and Xteve have been confirmed to be correct. This is clearly a Plex issue!
I have supplied a snapshot of both m3u and xml files with server names and some EPG IDs removed for security. A generic string was used to replace them however I can assure that the IDs are unique and correctly assigned between channels and programmes.
https://filebin.net/zbihqrscumueznmx/Debug.zip?t=5mnvg9ls
This download will expire 1 week after this post was made.
